Punjab government misleading people over Tytler issue: Amarinder

Chandigarh, April 4 (IANS) Former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh Saturday accused the Akali Dal-led government of misleading people on the clean chit to Congress leader Jagdish Tytler in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). “This is just a case of political opportunism. For the last 25 years, they (Akali Dal leaders) were quiet and now suddenly they have started protesting against Tytler,” Amarinder Singh told reporters here.

Congress’ Lok Sabha nominee from North-East Delhi Jagdish Tytler was Thursday cleared by the CBI in a case related to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi after witness accounts were found “inconsistent and contradictory”.

The CBI decision has prompted protests by upset Sikhs in the national capital and in Punjab who questioned its timing - just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

“This (opposition to the CBI decision) is just a political stunt of the (Prakash Singh) Badal government. It seems that they do not want to settle this issue and that is why they are blowing this case out of proportion,” Amarinder Singh said.

The senior Congress leader said Rs.268 crore (Rs.2.68 billion) was lying unused with the Punjab government. “They have not disbursed it despite several reminders. They even do not know the whereabouts of the (1984) riot victims.”

Amarinder Singh also said that a judicial inquiry should be conducted into the death of cooperative minister Kanwaljit Singh, who died in an accident March 29. “There is a widespread talk that there is some conspiracy behind this accident,” he said.